An advocate of Reading
Recovery talks about the highly structured program  and the hope it brings
to every child who struggles with the word, every teacher who yearns for
his success.

James, a first grader,
was one of the first children I worked with when I became a Reading Recovery
teacher. James knew only 14 letters, 3 words, and 4 sounds. He had some
knowledge that print was read from left to right and was able to write
his own name and the word Mom. He was one of many struggling younger readers
who had fallen behind his classmates.

Knowing exactly what
this student's strengths were before we began helped me build upon them.
James would begin each 30-minute lesson reading aloud a few books he had
already mastered. Then he would tackle the book he had read for the first
time the day before, while I kept a running record of each error and self-correction.

Next, we would move
into letter and word study. Using a magnetic word board, I would guide
James to notice the connection between words; for example, between May,
a known word, and day, an unknown word. The common "ay" sound
would become the focus of that day's lesson.

James would then
work on writing a story. He would practice a difficult word, letter by
letter and sound by sound, before adding it to his sentence. I would copy
his completed sentence onto a strip of paper and cut it apart, then challenge
him to reassemble the sentence, including parts of words, such as pl and
ay to form play.

Last, I would introduce
him to a new book  one that also used the "ay" sound. After
making predictions about the story and some of the words in the text,
he would read it aloud, incorporating strategies learned in past lessons.

Within 20 weeks of
the start of the program, this once at-risk student was on a par with
the average readers in his classroom. He was able to function successfully
in reading and writing from that point on. I realized that through this
highly structured program, I had virtually rescued James from years, maybe
a lifetime, of continued frustration and failure.

Why
Reading Recovery?

Several years ago,
when I started teaching kindergarten and first grade, I realized that
the two reading courses I had taken for my initial teaching certification
did not at all prepare me to teach children how to read. Frustrated, I
offered my students the one strategy I knew for decoding words: "Sound
it out." Then I discovered Reading Recovery.

Most children who
have made little progress in literacy skills by first grade need immediate
attention to avoid cementing poor reading strategies into habit, according
to Marie M. Clay, Ph.D., the New Zealand educator and researcher who developed
Reading Recovery in the 1960s and '70s. They can master the strategies
that "good readers" acquire with ease, rather than repeatedly
attempting tactics that fail. Teachers can learn, through an intensive,
yearlong teacher-training program, the best strategies with which to empower
young, struggling readers  strategies that will help them to integrate
meaning, structure, and visual clues successfully. My Reading Recovery
course work at the University of Rhode Island in Providence taught me
how to observe reading behaviors closely and tailor lessons to the specific
needs of the individual child.

Reading Recovery
is an early-intervention program designed for first graders who have received
the lowest scores in reading and writing. Students are assessed for inclusion
in the program through six Observation Tasks, which test them on letter
identification, knowledge of common words, concepts about print, writing
vocabulary, analysis of sounds in words, and reading level. Once chosen
for the program, children meet one-on-one with a trained teacher, 30 minutes
each day for a maximum of 20 weeks. After successfully completing the
program, children, including those with whom I've worked, continue to
perform at an average or better level in reading and writing.

What
If You're Not Trained in the Program?

Despite the fact
that Reading Recovery reduces the number of costly special education and
remediation programs, many educators still find themselves in districts
that simply cannot afford to implement it. The cost of training just one
teacher in the program is approximately $17,000, not including materials,
training facilities, and mentor visits. A Reading Recovery teacher must
concentrate exclusively on the program rather than on regular classroom
activities. The good news, however, is that even without formal training,
teachers of any grade level can take lessons from the success of the Reading
Recovery model.

Assessment
Must Drive Instruction

To move children
forward, teachers must understand what the child can already do. An
Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, by Dr. Clay (Heinemann,
l993), is a useful guide to refining assessment and becoming careful observers
of children's literacy behaviors. Maria Utevsky, a veteran Reading Recovery
teacher leader in New York City's District 2, says that "Reading
Recovery isn't about a bag of tricks but rather about bringing in an understanding
of ongoing assessment  knowing where kids are all the time, understanding
them as readers and writers and knowing their strengths."

Books
Must Be Chosen Carefully

When choosing a book
for a struggling reader, it is imperative that the book be challenging
enough that there is some "reading work" but not so much that
the child becomes frustrated. I organize the class library following a
system suggested in Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children,
by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell (Heinemann, 1996), and the students
in my class become familiar with the system quite easily. For independent
reading, I direct each child to specific, labeled baskets of books that
they can read with at least 90 percent accuracy. Books that require some
assistance and instruction are found in a separate basket and are used
during instructional periods.

Cueing
and Verbal Prompts Affect Fluency

Fluent readers take
advantage of all they know about semantics, syntax, and phonics in order
to make meaning out of words. Struggling readers must learn to do the
same. To become fluent readers, youngsters must take advantage of the
three cueing systems: meaning, structure, and visual cues. The use of
verbal prompts during one-on-one sessions helps the child become aware
of his behaviors and learn to problem-solve by himself.

Promote attention
to meaning:

"Does that
make sense?"

Promote attention
to language structure:

"Does that
sound right?"

Promote attention
to visual information:

"Does that
look right?"

Prompt to integrate
meaning and visual cues:

"Does it
look right and sound right?"

Promote reading
awareness:

"Could it
be [this word]? How do you know?"

"Were you
right? How do you know?"

"You said
. Does that make sense?"

"Go back
and think about what would make sense."

"Do you know
something about that word that can help you?"

Give the student
feedback to acknowledge problem solving:

If the child rereads
and self-corrects his error: "I like the way you went back and
fixed that mistake. That was good checking." Or "I like the
way you found out what was wrong all by yourself."

If a child rereads
in a fluent and expressive manner: "I like the way you read that
just as if you were talking."

If a child hesitates
at an unknown word: "I like the way you stopped and checked that
word."

Gauge
Reading Skills Through Writing

Analyzing students'
writing for accuracy is a helpful tool in understanding what a child knows
about letter sounds, directionality, spacing, letter clusters, capitalization,
punctuation, and so on. I find it helpful to collect writing samples periodically
to analyze what a child knows about the conventions of print. I record
the information under specific categories, then use it to plan explicit
teaching. For example, a youngster who repeatedly omits vowels in his
or her writing would require extra attention in this area.

After three years
as a Reading Recovery teacher in Rhode Island, empowering children with
a system of reading and writing strategies, I returned to the classroom
prepared to offer early readers more than simply "sound it out."
Today, as a second-grade teacher in New York City, I still carry with
me all the lessons I learned to make children more independent, confident
readers. I now know that children like James can be saved from
illiteracy  and the benefits are priceless.